Answer Engine Optimisation: What Coaches and Digital Business Owners Need to Know Right Now

Search has changed.

And if you’re a coach, course creator or consultant building a business online, you need to understand what’s happening, because it’s already affecting your visibility, your traffic and eventually your sales.

We’re entering the era of Answer Engine Optimisation.
And most coaches aren’t ready for it.

The days of relying on SEO alone, stuffing blogs with keywords, or hoping Google sends you traffic are long gone. People aren’t searching the same way, and they’re not waiting around for a list of links. They want instant answers.

If you’re not the answer, you disappear.

That’s the shift.

What is Answer Engine Optimisation?

Neil Patel explains AEO as optimising your content for AI-driven tools that give answers, not just search results.

Think ChatGPT, Perplexity, voice assistants and Google’s SGE.

People now type or speak full questions:
“How do I start a coaching business at 50?”
“What’s the best platform for building an online course?”
“How can I grow my coaching pipeline without social media?”

And the system gives them one clear answer.
If that answer isn’t you, you’re invisible.

This is a huge opportunity for coaches, but only if you adapt.

Why This Matters for Coaches and Experts

Most coaches create content that explains, not content that answers.
There’s a difference.

Explanations are long, padded out and story-heavy.
Answers are sharp, structured and genuinely helpful.

When someone’s at the start of their journey, they want the person who gives them clarity the fastest.
AEO rewards exactly that.

It means your content needs to shift from “here are my thoughts” to “here’s exactly what you need right now”.

Do that well and AI tools will start pulling your content into their answers.

How AEO Changes the Game for Your Coaching Business

This shift impacts everything:

1. Visibility

You might have the best coaching programme in the world, but if answer engines don’t surface you, nobody knows.

Being the “featured answer” is the new page one of Google.

2. Authority

AEO rewards clarity, structure and actionable expertise.
This is how you build trust in a noisy world.

3. Lead generation

More people will discover you through answers, not scrolling.
Not ads.
Not luck.
Through clarity.

How to Prepare Your Coaching Business for AEO

1. Create content that gives direct answers

Every piece of content should answer one clear question.
Skip the long-winded explanations and get straight to the point.

2. Use question and answer structures

Headings like:

• What is…

• How do I…

• Why does…

• What’s the best way to…

This mirrors how people search and makes your content easy for AI tools to understand and use.

3. Build real authority signals

AEO still cares about credibility.
Your site should show:

• Expertise

• Testimonials

• Specialism

• Real results

It makes answer engines more likely to trust you.

4. Focus on real problems, not generic content

AI can summarise generic content.
It can’t replicate your lived experience, your stories or your frameworks.
Lean into those.

5. Use your Kajabi site strategically

Kajabi blogs and landing pages are perfect for AEO when they’re structured well.
Clean headers, short paragraphs, clear answers.
That’s what gets surfaced.

Where AEO is Heading

Over the next couple of years:

• Search results will shrink

• Direct answers will dominate

• Coaches who structure their content well will rise

• Vague storytelling will fade away

It’s not about writing more.
It’s about writing usefully.

The coaches who win will be the ones who build content ecosystems that answer real questions clearly and quickly.

The Bottom Line

AEO isn’t an SEO trend.
It’s a shift in how people find information.
And if you’re building a coaching business, you can’t afford to ignore it.

Your authority will come from being the answer.
Your visibility will come from being useful.
And your growth will come from structuring your expertise so people can find what they need fast.

This is the future of online coaching.
And with platforms like Kajabi, you’ve got everything you need to build a business that stands out in the answer economy.